What’s your favorite healthy Christmas cookie recipe? Share a link to your own naturally sweetened recipe if you have one!

These five tips for growing poinsettias indoors will help you keep your lovely Christmas flowers looking beautiful all season long.

Tips for Growing Poinsettias Indoors

Buy a healthy plant

You can probably tell if the plant is healthy just by looking at it. Choose a plant that has vibrant green leaves with no brown spots. You’ll want to get a plant with open flowers as poinsettias bloom very slowly. You’ll also want to make sure the flowers are bright and pretty looking.

Do not let it get cold during transport from store to house

Poinsettias are very susceptible to cold. If you buy a plant during cold weather, make sure you cover it with a bag before you take it outside to keep it from getting shocked. Also, it’s important that you don’t leave it in an unheated car. If you have a lot of errands to run, make sure you pick up the poinsettia last and take it straight home. It’s better for the plant to take the bag off as soon as possible.

How to water a poinsettia

Over-watering is often the number one killer of poinsettias so make sure you let the soil dry to the touch between watering. Don’t forget to check to the bottom of the dish they’re in to make sure they’re not sitting in water for days on end. Poinsettias also like humidity, so if your house is dry, you might want to give them frequent mists of water.

Poinsettias need bright light

Poinsettias need a lot of light, so the best place to keep them is near a south facing window. If you notice your poinsettia turning light green, you’ll want to find it a spot that gets more light. It should also be kept relatively warm, with ideal temperatures in the 60-70 degree range.

Protect poinsettias from drafts in your home

Poinsettias are very susceptible to cold drafts so make sure that no part of it touches a cold window. You’ll also want to keep it away from a furnace vent or a fireplace as well.

And that’s it! Follow these steps and you should have beautiful poinsettias until Valentine’s Day and maybe even beyond.

Do you buy poinsettias each year? What’s your favorite color? I’m loving the Picasso colored one I bought at my local nursery.

If you’re looking for ideas for fun family game night stocking stuffers, you’ve come to to right place. All of these game ideas are affordable and fun. Plus, they’re easy to learn!

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And even better than me sharing ten awesome game ideas, I’m giving away four different games at the end of this post! Enter one giveaway or enter them all. I hope these giveaways help make your Christmas a little bit easier. You’re welcome. 🙂

Family Game Night Stocking Stuffers Gift Guide

Family game nights are great ways to connect with your kids and have a little fun as a family. In our multi-age family it is sometimes hard for all of us to come together to have a great time. But we all love these games and when we pull them out, the laughs and family fun begins.

Here are a few of our favorite little games – games that will make perfect stocking stuffers for your family – and rest assured, the learning curve is very small on these games. It won’t take you long at all to learn the rules for any of these games.

We’ve had this game for a while. It’s a really easy game that all of my kids can play. It’s a fast-paced card game with very little reading ability required. This game claims to be for 8+, but my 5 year old played it quite successfully as well.

We just got this game over the weekend at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair and everyone loved it. Be forewarned, this game gets pretty loud {unless you play the silent version}, and you have to play it standing up because you need to be able to move around. It’s another game that’s really easy for kids of all ages – very little reading ability is needed to play this game. It claims to be for ages 6+, but I think younger kids can play it too as long as they can figure out the four different cards, pictured above.

This is another fun game that we got at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. The goal of this crazy game is to match and collect reversible fruit pieces. This game is for ages 4+ and I think that’s pretty accurate. 🙂

A fun and educational game that we also learned about at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. This game is a fast-paced, dice rolling, word game that can help with vocabulary, phonics, and spelling. This game is for ages 10+, but I think younger kids can play also if you scale the game down and there are several easy ways to scale it.

This is single person brain game that we saw in Chicago. I don’t actually have one, but we played with it there and it looks like a lot of fun and a great way to work some logic practice into your day. It’s also magnetic so it’s fantastic for road tripping! For ages 6+ which I think is pretty accurate.

I picked this game up at ALDI last year and we really like it and take it on road trips with us. It’s an easy card game version of Scrabble that builds vocabulary and spelling. this game does require a little more ability than some of the others I’ve listed here, as some spelling ability is very helpful. 🙂 This game is for ages 8+ and that’s probably about right. If younger kids are good spellers, they might be able to play too.

This easy game is about spotting the difference on cards. It’s a speed game to see who can find the differences first. My younger two daughters really like this game a lot. It’s for ages 4+ and that’s about right!

Who doesn’t like Mad Libs? They were some of my favorite activities when I was younger and are another fun way to work on vocabulary and spelling. For just a few dollars each, Mad Libs are great additions to kids’ stockings and a fun way to spend a few minutes together as a family.

Trivia games are always a fun way to sneak in some education, and Professor Noggins sells many different versions of their trivia games from cards on Outer Space to the History of Art to US Presidents. You’re sure to find something interesting and educational to slip in your kids’ stockings from Professor Noggins.

This is really a one-person game, but my eight year old loves it! You might remember them from your childhood – it’s just ordering the numbers correctly. They’re great little brain teasers and fit really nicely in a stocking.

Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!

How about some giveaways! Enter to win one or them all, your call! Giveaways end on Dec 4th are open to US residents 18 years of age and older. Good luck!

Looking for more holiday gift ideas? Here’s a list of my favorite gift ideas for the overworked mom. If you know any overworked moms or need gift ideas to make any woman’s life easier, use this list as inspiration! Plus, check out the giveaways sprinkled throughout this post! I’m giving away a few of these items in this list too.

*This post contains referral links and I received some of the items here in exchange for inclusion in this gift guide. Thank you for supporting this site.*

Favorite Gift Ideas for the Overworked Mom {And MORE Giveaways!}

Gifts for Calm & Zen

Calm and zen moms are much nicer moms than their more harried counterparts. The first part of my list of items for the overworked mom are things that help calm and comfort.

I love essential oils and this diffuser is really nice. Essential oils are fabulous for calm and healing. If you don’t have a diffuser, this is a really pretty one. It’s also BPA-free and uses a high-frequency ultrasonic electrical vibrations to create an ultra-fine mist. Because it doesn’t utilize heat, the essential oil integrity and holistic properties are kept pure.

This has 5 great blends put into one set and we include a free Carlson jute bag to store them in. Includes Peaceful Sleep, Clear the Air, Mental Focus, Peace and Harmony, and Naturally Loveable. Clear the Air purifying blend has a fresh mint aroma, Peaceful Sleep is floral citrus, Mental Focus is minty citrus with wintergreen, Peace and Harmony is minty floral herb and Naturally Loveable has a sweet floral, citrus aroma.

Every overworked mom needs a good book to read! I heard an interview on Fresh Air with Trevor Noah and it sounds like a really great book. I never knew what an interesting man he is, but I know I enjoy his comedy on TV. I would love to read his book. Plus, Amazon has a $10 off $25 book purchase! Use code HOLIDAYBOOK on any physical book purchases on Amazon through Monday, Nov. 28 to use this code!

Of course, wine is one of my most favorite gifts – it’s a great calming gift for the overworked mom. I recently tried out Wente Wines and really enjoyed the Southern Hills Cabernet. Head over here and order me a case. 😀 Shipping is only $9.99 if you buy 12 bottles.

Gifts for the House & Kitchen

A clean home and homemade meals make the overworked mom super happy. I can tell you that from experience. Here are a few items that make cleaning and cooking easier. 🙂

If you have hard floors and don’t have a steam mop, you need one – it’s great choice for all sealed hard floor surfaces including tile, wood, vinyl and laminate.. This steam mop is my sanity keeper as it kills bacteria without any cleaning chemicals (tested on E.Coli bacterium). I love how easy it is to use and what a nice job it does on my tile floors. Plus the kids enjoy using it too so that’s a win-win! And I’m giving one a way, so make sure you read to the end!

A huge sanity keeper in my kitchen is my set of narrow measuring spoons. I hate it when my measure spoon won’t fit in my spice jars, and I don’t have to worry about that with these at all! Every overworked mom needs a set of measuring spoons that actually fit in the containers!!

It’s always a lovely boost to my sanity when someone else cooks dinner, so how about helping your husband get right on that job with this food thermometer? It’s great for grilling and makes a perfect stocking stuffer too.

If you’ve got girls who would also like to help you in the kitchen, get this fun cookbook, pancake making set, and super cute spatulas! I’m loving these American Girl and William Sonoma gift sets. Anything that encourages someone besides me to cook at my home is amazing! My girls are huge American Girl fans and I know these sets will be a fun surprise for them. By the way, spend $150 through 11/27 and get $15 off your order! Details here.

Fun Tech Gifts

Every overworked mom needs a little something fun to play around with. The items in this list are things I have or would love to have. Techy items aren’t just for kids and husbands. Moms like them too!

Have you seen the HP Sprocket? It prints super cute 2″ x 3″ pictures right from your smart phone and best of all?? NO INK NEEDED!! This might be one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. You can buy it on Amazon!

(QVC is a service mark of ER Marks, Inc. The QVC.com domain name is registered to QVC, Inc.)

Score a killer deal on a powered-up HP laptop during QVC’s Best Black Friday™ Sale weekend! The HP 15 Notebook comes with Windows 10 Home, 2TB hard drive, high-definition display, AMD Radeon R5 graphics, HP TrueVision HD Camera, DTS Studio sound and much more. Best of all, HP has partnered with QVC to offer two exclusive colors: minty green and soft lilac, and will feature this laptop at the lowest price of the season!

Beauty Products!

All overworked moms need something to make them feel pretty. Or, if you’re anything like me and my family, you’ve got older kids stealing your beauty products, so maybe adding a few of these items to your gift list will make your life easier too! Lately, I’ve gotten really sick of having to track down my blow dryer because my 12 year ran off with it AGAIN!

The Dryonizer 2200 professional hairstyling blow dryer features a 1600 watt ionic ceramic HeatBalance® motor. It produces consistent heat and air pressure and locks in moisture as it breaks down water molecules. It’s lightweight and quiet and it dries my hair really quickly. I’ve got one to give away in this post too! You can buy one here for 70% off with code BlackFriday through Nov 28! Or, enter to win one, too! http://shopsharenetwork.go2cloud.org/SH2pa Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m excited to offer a giveaway to a few Juice Beauty products too, because I just love what this company stands for. So many US cosmetic companies are shrouded in secrecy and use harmful chemicals without proper disclosure. Juice Beauty’s goal is be transparent and use certified organic ingredients. It’s a very different company motto compared to the conventional, synthetic chemical-laden beauty brands.

Since our skin can absorb up to 60% of what is placed on it, Juice Beauty takes every precaution necessary to reduce the risk that toxins from pesticides might contaminate our bodies, our children’s bodies, and ocean habitats. They purchase the majority of ingredients from local West Coast USDA Certified Organic farms to monitor the quality and limit fuel waste. An many of their products are manufactured with solar power. I’m loving their lip pencils and mascara and I’m giving away one set of Anti-Wrinkle Treatment with three awesome, full sized products including an Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum, and Antioxidant Serum, and an Anti-Wrinkle Eye Treatment too!

And that’s it. My long list of gift ideas designed to give some peace, zen, and happiness to the overworked mom. What would you add to this list?

I'm a semi-crunchy Eastern Iowa mom of 4 crazy kids on a quest to stay sane and healthy. We try to live a sustainable lifestyle on 5 acres with chickens, dogs, rabbits & more! Grab some coffee or wine and hang out for a bit!